Burst Limit
By Nintendoman01
Disclaimer:
I do not own any characters from any of the game series that are featured in this story, except for any OCs that are featured. All rights reserved.
Author's Note:
Yet another whim of mine. A video game-based mega-crossover that I got the idea from such things as the game Project X Zone, the Capcom Vs. series, and The Infiniator's story Infinite Gambit. The story will feature quite a few elements and characters from the aforementioned Project X Zone, as well as some that I threw in myself, such as Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, and Metal Gear to name a few. I'm gonna try my best to keep the narrative coherent and see where things go.
As usual, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, but NO FLAMES. If you don't like it, don't read it.
And yeah, I know the title's pretty corny, but it was the best I could come up with at the moment. If I manage to come up with a better title, I'll change it.
Okay, let's do it to it.
- Prologue -
2010 A.D.
Japan, Mugen Tenshin Territory
The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, the forest still silent and peaceful. Occasionally, a bird chirped, though the forest was otherwise still.
A young woman, not quite out of her teens, stood leaning on a tree, wreathed in murky shadow as her thoughts danced in her mind. She was dressed in a blue, side-tie dress with short puffy sleeves, white trim, the kanji for her name stitched in yellow on the back, a light-colored phoenix pattern on the skirt, complete with white stockings, low heeled sandals, and blue-and-white leg guards and arm-guards. Her blade, the Shrouded Moon, was strapped and sheathed on the back of her waist.
Is this real?
Kasumi tucked a lock of red hair back behind her ear as she continued thinking, still unable to believe it.
Am I finally going home?
It had been three months since her battle with her powerful clone, Alpha-152, in Victor Donovan's secret MIST laboratory. With the help of her family and friends, she had finally been able to destroy the twisted abomination Donovan had crafted in her image, but she was well aware that it was not over. Parting ways with her comrades, she had set off in pursuit of Donovan, determined to take him down and ensure that he would never hurt anyone else again.
However, despite her best efforts, she was unable to find any leads, and the advent of what the world had begun to refer to as the "war economy" only complicated things. Nearly everywhere she had traveled in an attempt to find a lead on Donovan, she saw how much many had suffered because of it.
Though Kasumi did not spend much time outside of the Hayabusa village in the two years between the fourth and fifth Dead or Alive tournaments, she was far from oblivious to what was going on in the outside world. The war economy had kickstarted due in part to the so-called Manhattan Incident last year, in which a terrorist group calling themselves the Sons of Liberty had hijacked the Big Shell, an offshore cleanup plant off the coast of Manhattan Island, ending with them crashing a massive submersible warship into New York City itself. In the aftermath of said incident, the SOP System was created by ArmsTech Inc.
From what information Kasumi had managed to gather, the System was a form of battlefield control which enabled military organizations all over the world to monitor and regulate the usage of weapons and soldiers via nanomachines inside of their bodies. As a result, private military companies had sprung up all over the world, with the biggest and most powerful of them all being Liquid Ocelot's Outer Heaven, with war actually becoming a lucrative business practice. Just the thought of people waging war for no reason other than fun and profit filled Kasumi with unbridled anger and revulsion.
War is hell, plain and simple.
She herself had passed through a few war zones during her pursuit of Donovan. In addition to such things as human soldiers and unmanned weapons such as the two-legged Gekko, she had seen true abominations against nature in use, creatures that most referred to simply as "bio-organic weapons," products of the now-bankrupted Umbrella Corporation.
Despite their efforts to stay isolated from the outside world, both the Mugen Tenshin Clan, as well as the Hayabusa Clan, made sure to keep up to date with what was occurring in the outside world. The Umbrella Corporation had been one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world for nearly a decade, as well as a major corporate rival of DOATEC, and had been recognized all over the globe as one of the driving forces behind economic superiority. And just like DOATEC, Umbrella was heavily corrupt and involved in genetic engineering and bioweaponry behind the scenes, even having their own private military company. However, about twelve years ago, an outbreak involving one of their bioweapons occurred in Raccoon City, a small mountain town in midwestern America, with the U.S. government having been forced to sterilize the area with a surface-to-air nuclear warhead. After that, the U.S. government suspended Umbrella's market trading rights indefinitely. Their unethical business practices were eventually discovered, and Umbrella quickly went bankrupt and was liquidated. Despite this, many of their bio-organic weapons, or B.O.W.s, found their way into the international black market and found use with quite a few terrorist groups. It was ironic in a very twisted way: with bioweapons being sold left and right to all sorts of unscrupulous sorts, the world was actually a better place with Umbrella than without it.
Naturally, due to the usage of B.O.W.s in the war economy, the BSAA, the United Nations-sponsored counter-bioterrorism organization, had also gotten involved in these pointless proxy battles.
After what Donovan had did to her and her brother Hayate in his own super-soldier experiments, Kasumi had every right in the world to oppose bioweapons, and was absolutely disgusted that monsters like Donovan would cause harm to people and twist them into biological abominations for their own selfish ends. Given Donovan's obsession with making the "perfect fighter," it wouldn't surprise her one bit if he had managed to get ahold of some of those B.O.W.s, or even if he sold them to the different armies.
Despite all of this, there was one piece of news that filled her with joy and relief.
Just a few days ago, while sitting in her apartment in Kyoto after her latest attempt to find a lead on Donovan failed, she was approached by her younger half-sister Ayane, and their long-time friend and ally Ryu Hayabusa, who gave her the good news. After much trial and error, Hayate and their parents had finally managed to have the death-mark on Kasumi's head, as well as her status as a runaway shinobi, revoked. She could finally return home to the Mugen Tenshin village. Upon hearing the news, Kasumi promptly fell to the floor and wept with joy.
And now here she was, preparing to return to her childhood home for the first time in years. Though she was still determined to find Donovan and silence him, Kasumi knew that it was pointless to just continue walking the Earth in the off-chance that he might be in the next city over. This homecoming trip was just what she needed to unwind.
After another moment to gather her thoughts, Kasumi brushed her bangs out of her eyes and steeled herself for whatever awaited her.
Well, here we go.
USA, Arlington County, Virginia
It was the crest of nightfall as a taxi slowly roared down the streets to its destination.
The driver looked into the rearview mirror at his passenger, a tall, well-built man in his late thirties with dark brown hair in a mullet, calm, intense blue eyes, and a light stubble over his face. He was dressed in a black double-breasted suit with black dress shoes, a black tie, and white undershirt.
"So, what's the occasion, pal?" he asked, trying to strike up a conversation.
"I'm headed to Arlington National Cemetery," the man replied, his voice deep and gravelly. "My... father is buried there." The driver couldn't help but the man's hesitation when he mentioned his father.
"Weren't very close with him, were you?" he asked hesitantly.
"Not really," the man said. "I'd rather not talk about it."
The driver shrugged and they rode the rest of the way in silence, eventually stopping before the cemetery gates. The man quietly got out and gave the driver his fare.
"Thanks for the ride," he said. "Have a good evening."
The driver nodded and drove off. If he had known just who he was talking to at the moment, he would most likely be awestruck; after all, it wasn't every day that one shared a cab ride with the legendary Solid Snake.
Taking no further notice of the departing cab, Snake pulled out a pack of Morley cigarettes and lit one as he made his way through the rows of graves until he stopped before a particular duo of tombstones. One was engraved with the words "In Memory of a Patriot, Who Saved the World", whereas the other was completely blank.
It was the unmarked grave that Snake had come to visit. The grave of Big Boss. Even after Big Boss's betrayal, Snake found that he couldn't truly give up his respect for the legendary soldier. After a moment of silence, Snake saluted the grave. Taking one last puff of his cigarette, he ground the stub out under his heel.
A few more minutes passed before a familiar sound reached his years. The whir of a helicopter propeller. Said helicopter landed in the cemetery behind him. Snake didn't even bother to turn around. He knew who was on board.
Sure enough, a skinny, bespectacled man wearing a white coat, gray sweater, jeans, and black boots disembarked the helicopter; Snake's longtime friend and partner, Otacon. He quietly walked up to Snake.
"Even the dead have ears, Otacon," Snake said quietly, still not bothering to turn around. Otacon gave a slight laugh.
"Snake, it's time to go," he said after a minute. "We've got company."
"Is that so?" Snake replied, finally turning to face Otacon.
"His name is Boris," Otacon explained. "He was working with Raiden when he rescued Sunny."
Snake's eyes widened for a brief second. He remembered Raiden all right. Snake and Raiden had teamed up to fight Solidus Snake and the Sons of Liberty during the Big Shell Incident last year. Some time after that, he had managed to save Sunny, the daughter of the late Olga Gurlukovich, and handed her over to Snake and Otacon's care before disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Snake had been trying to find any lead on Raiden's whereabouts, but their efforts had, so far, turned up nothing.
"You think he knows where Raiden is?" Snake asked after a minute.
"It's possible," Otacon replied. "Why else would he go through all this trouble to find us?"
"Okay," Snake said. "Let's go." With that, he made his way to the belly of the chopper, where he saw someone already seated there. The passenger was a late middle-aged man with a mustache, dressed in a black leather jacket and jeans with a black sweater underneath. Snake casually entered the chopper and sat across from him.
"Ah, Solid Snake, dobryj vyechyer," the man said, his voice thick with a Russian accent. He held out his hand, which Snake shook after a slight hesitation.
"You must be Boris," Snake said. He nodded.
"Da," he replied. "I am Boris. If you're wondering why exactly I'm here, I figured you had the right to know, given your past history with Raiden."
"Do you know where he is?" Snake asked. Boris nodded.
"From the intel I have gathered, he has been imprisoned at Area 51, courtesy of the Patriots." Snake and Otacon exchanged a look.
"You know about the Patriots?" Snake asked, surprised. Boris nodded.
"Sergei Gurlukovich and I were good friends during my time in the army," he explained. "I found out about them thanks to Raiden. He told me that they were the ones who killed him."
Against all the principles of the founding fathers, the Patriots were the true heads of the United States. Only a handful of people were even aware of their existence. They were the sole authority in the U.S. and the President answered directly to them. The government was a lie. It was only a puppet, and the Patriots were the ones pulling its strings. And, of course, they were the ones behind the war economy.
"We have to help him," Otacon said. "There's no telling what the Patriots are putting him through."
"My thoughts exactly," Snake said. "How fast can we get to Area 51?"
"Once we get to the Nomad, I'll set course immediately."
Author's Note:
dobryj vyechyer: Good evening.
da: Yes.
Correct me if I'm wrong. I looked these up online, 'cause I only speak English.
As you can see, in this first chapter alone, we've gotten references to Dead or Alive, Metal Gear, and Resident Evil. And that's not all; I won't spoil the surprise.
And as for Kasumi's reaction to the whole war economy thing, think about it: the games pretty much make it a point how Kasumi is all compassionate and noble and doesn't really like fighting; it just makes sense that she'd be anti-war, doesn't it?
Please leave feedback; reviews make me happy. Until next chapter...